Eager to see the local economy open up even more as COVID-19 vaccinations increase and the province’s stay at home restrictions ease, the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce is now distributing free COVID-19 rapid screening tests to local employers who wish to screen their employees for COVID-19.
The tests do not require specimens to be shipped to a lab for processing and take approximately 15 minutes to show a positive or negative result.
The kits are free to businesses with less than 150 employees.
“We have to continue to be diligent in fighting the virus because it is mutating with the variants of concern,” said Rory Ring, Sault Chamber CEO, speaking to SooToday.
“Even just one instance of an infected person in the work environment can certainly create absolute chaos, spreading it not only to fellow employees but also potentially to customers and family members of the employees and customers. We have to provide a confident place for employees to be, especially as we start to get back to reopening, and that too will instill greater confidence in your customers ability to come to your place of business as well.”
Kits are available for local businesses to order on the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce website.
Before placing an order, businesses will be required to designate a screening supervisor who will be responsible for ordering kits, managing the business’s screening efforts and reporting results.
Screening supervisors will be required to familiarize themselves with the screening process and view a training video on how to administer the tests.
Businesses will be required to schedule a time for pick-up when they order their screening kits online.
Kits will be available for pickup at GFL Memorial Gardens on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When picking up, drivers are asked to pull up to the curb in front of the players entrance (on the southwest side of the arena), ensure that they are wearing a mask and not exit the vehicle. Volunteers will confirm the order and bring the kits to the vehicle.
Kits were available for pickup beginning June 21 and June 22, Ring said.
“There are 25 tests in each kit and we’re probably at about 40 or 50 businesses (who have picked up kits for their employees),” Ring said.
“We’re getting bookings every day and we’ll be continuing this until the fall.”
“Frequent screening with rapid antigen tests increases the chances of early identification of cases in asymptomatic individuals only. Recommended frequency is twice per employee, per week,” the Chamber’s website states.
Ring reiterated the distribution of kits “is targeted to employers that have less than 150 employees. If you’ve got 160 we’re not going to turn you away. We want you to do the tests and if they’re above that level (of 160 employees, for example) they can order directly from the government.”
Feedback from employers regarding the availability of testing kits from the Chamber, Ring said, has been “very, very positive.”
“It is done at no charge. There is a process they have to follow. Obviously it’s key to make sure that you report the number of tests done and then if there is a positive that person has to isolate and make a report to Algoma Public Health (APH).”
“You have to be cautious. We don’t know what the next variant will look like,” Ring emphasized.
During the screening procedure, vials are loaded with a small quantity of a buffering agent (good for 25 screens) by a trained individual at the workplace.
A swab (like a long Q-tip) is inserted an inch into each of an employee’s nostrils and swirled for a minimum of five to seven seconds.
The swab is then inserted into a tube and swirled, the bottom of the tube then snapped off and the fluid squirted on to a strip that will indicate if a person has tested positive or negative in 15 minutes (the kits come with disposal bins).
A person who has tested positive must then leave the workplace and report to a COVID-19 Assessment Centre for PCR testing.
But not everyone is comfortable with COVID-19 testing or the COVID-19 vaccine itself.
Should screening at workplaces be mandatory?
“Some businesses have asked that it be mandatory. Some have done it on a voluntary basis. Those that are mandatory tend to be very ‘high touch’ and frontline workers in contact with consumers or in environments where there’s close proximity to each other,” Ring said.
“My understanding is that should somebody refuse it (a test), then the business does all it can to provide accommodations to keep its workforce safe and that individual safe.”
When or if it comes to an employee being reluctant to take the COVID-19 vaccine, Ring said “that’s a conversation that has to happen between the employee and the employer, and both sides of that equation have to ensure that they can be as accommodating as possible to keep their coworkers and their customers safe.”
“Algoma Public Health encourages the use of healthy workplace policies when it comes to testing and vaccination…(but) there is no overarching requirement from the provincial government or Algoma Public Health for general workplaces to institute rapid antigen testing,” said Brandon Hazelton, APH communications coordinator in an email.
“Rapid antigen testing is just one tool in the screening toolbox, and should only be used for screening asymptomatic employees as part of an overall workplace screening process. Symptomatic persons should be excluded from work, isolate with their household immediately, and contact their local COVID-19 Assessment Centre for PCR testing. Early identification of positive cases assists us in contact tracing, thereby reducing spread in the community while also preventing workplace outbreaks. Employers are to notify APH if anyone tests positive at the workplace and if they require a confirmatory PCR test,” Hazelton said.
Workplaces performing antigen testing are encouraged to reach out to APH’s Healthy Workplaces for more information at: 705-942-4646 ext. 3273 or 1-866-892-0172 or by email.
“Except for workplaces required by the Chief Medical Officer of Health directives to do so, the Government of Ontario has not mandated rapid antigen screening tests and has made it clear that it is the employer’s decision to either implement as a voluntary or mandatory program for their own workers,” said Kalem McSween, Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development spokesperson, also responding to SooToday by email.
What of the COVID-19 vaccine? Will it be mandatory?
“Some workplaces may choose to consult legal counsel and implement their own vaccination policies. Algoma Public Health is continuing to provide education, information, as well as assist workplaces with boosting vaccine confidence and uptake,” Hazelhurst wrote on behalf of APH.
“The goal of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination plan is for everyone in Ontario to be able to get a COVID-19 vaccination if they want one...workers with concerns about a vaccination policy in the workplace may wish to raise the issue with their joint health and safety committee, health and safety representative or trade union,” wrote McSween from the Ministry of Labour.
“(However) if an employer ends the employment of an employee because they refused to be vaccinated, the employee may be entitled to termination pay and severance pay under the ESA (Employment Standards Act). In most cases, when an employer ends the employment of an employee who has been continuously employed for three months, the employer must provide the employee with either written notice of termination, termination pay or a combination of the two,” McSween wrote.
Meanwhile, it’s ‘so far, so good’ in regards to Sault and area businesses reopening, said Chamber CEO Rory Ring.
That staged reopening now includes patios for dining and beverages and indoor non-essential retail stores operating within capacity guidelines (masks and social distancing measures still being enforced).
“We need to ramp up and get ourselves into Step Three,” Ring said, referring to the province’s reopening plan after a long stay at home order was enforced in April.